Not surprising...PM gave clean chit to China: Congress attacks PM Modi over India-China remark on podcast

New Delhi, March 18: Following the Chinese foreign ministry's remark on Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing optimism about India-China relations and emphasising the importance of learning and understanding from one another, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that such a reply by China was "not surprising," as the Prime Minister had already given a "clean chit to China."

"This is not surprising that China has sent a formal reply and said that this is a dance between China's dragon and India's elephant. On June 19, 2020, when our Prime Minister was a non-biological PM, then he had given this statement where he gave a clean chit to China," Ramesh told ANI.

Ramesh played purportedly a clip of PM Modi from 2020, where in the video the PM is heard saying "no one has crossed our borders, or any of our posts are captured by someone else."

Replying to the statement, Ramesh added, "He said it two times, that no one has entered or posts have been captured. So when the clean chit was given, it makes sense that China will reply to that. Our power and influence gets weakened after our PM says things like this. Saying things like there was no incursion, so will we call it an excursion?"

He further stressed the demand of the Opposition in Parliament to hold a discussion on China, and asking the PM to give a statement on it.

"We have raised many questions, and we have demanded only one thing, to have a debate on Parliament over this, take Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha into confidence. The PM should come and give a statement and take questions from others," Ramesh added.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning had appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's positive remarks on China-India relations during a podcast interview with Lex Fridman and also noted that being partners in mutual success and achieving "Dragon-Elephant Dance" cooperation is the only correct choice for the two countries, Chinese state media reported on March 17.

Global Times reported that while addressing a media query on PM Modi's recent remarks on the Lex Fridman podcast, Mao Ning stated that China is willing to work with India to fully implement the consensus reached by their leaders, take the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to advance exchanges and cooperation across various fields and levels and promote the healthy and stable development of China-India relations.